


A Court of Cobras

by kimurasato



Category: Cobra Kai (Web Series), Karate Kid (Movies)
Genre: Blood Drinking, Cobra Kai bros are all vampires, Drug Use, Inappropriate Teacher/Student Relationship, M/M, Vampire AU, Vampire Johnny Lawrence, not with our boys don't worry, they're vampires it's going to happen, this shouldn't be a surprise, we all know what Johnny was doing in the bathroom on Halloween
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-08
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-15 03:42:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 20,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29927397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kimurasato/pseuds/kimurasato
Summary: After the disaster of a first meeting that happened on the beach, Johnny came to realize a few things about this new boy in the Valley. He didn’t hate Daniel LaRusso at all. But how could he convince the other boy of his real feelings? Maybe his Cobra brothers could help him.
Relationships: Daniel LaRusso/Johnny Lawrence
Comments: 49
Kudos: 81





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LivingDeaDGirl244](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LivingDeaDGirl244/gifts).



Johnny watched as the other teen darted away from the lunch table where he left his school bag and hurried to get into the lunch line. Nearly a month passed since the whole beach fight, and the bruising around his eye had completely faded away. Naturally, the other teen avoided him as much as possible since then.

Daniel LaRusso. Johnny learned his name only after the fight happened, when they were all out on the field for soccer tryouts during their first week back at school. He overheard the conversation LaRusso had with Ali, all giggles and “Ali with an i.” Johnny had to try hard not to roll his eyes at them. But now he had a name to go along with the face he punched. And maybe he was still suffering some irritation at himself for ordering Bobby to hook his leg in the middle of a play. For a while after that, he wondered why he let it bother him so much. The whole encounter at the beach pretty much confirmed that Ali was completely out of the picture for him. Good riddance, he thought now. But why did LaRusso talking with Ali bother him so much?

Then he came to a realization that left his head spinning a couple weeks later. He wanted LaRusso to talk with _him_ , not Ali.

And most of the time when Johnny spotted him at school, LaRusso was following Ali around like some lost puppy seeking attention. The fight at the beach and getting kicked out of soccer tryouts, however, didn’t give LaRusso any kind of social standing. Most of the student body seemed to keep their distance from him. Johnny knew that was his fault. Those two incidents put a target on LaRusso’s back, and now everyone thought he was the Cobra Kai punching bag. No one wanted to get dragged into that.

Johnny frowned, his mouth pinching, and his eyes remained on the teen standing in line, slowly making his way through and picking out random items to add to his tray.

“Yeah, I don’t think you’re being too obvious at all.” Dutch’s voice broke through his thoughts, snickering and irritating. Johnny gave him a hard shove with his elbow, not bothering to even look at him.

“Shut up,” Johnny grumbled, his eyes narrowing only slightly into a glare.

“Are you sure about this, Johnny?” Tommy asked before taking a large bite out of his sandwich.

“Yeah,” Dutch agreed, throwing an arm over Johnny’s shoulders as an excuse to lean in close to him. “I mean, you could do a lot better than LaRusso if you want to claim someone.” He held up his hands when Johnny finally turned to him, his blue eyes darkening with a deadly glare, yellow bleeding only a touch into his eyes. “Just saying!” Then he squinted at Johnny. “Is this just because he landed a lucky sucker punch?”

Johnny rolled his eyes and went back to watching LaRusso, who was almost done with getting his lunch. “There’s just something about him. Okay? I can’t explain it.” Actually, he had talked about it with Bobby when the first urge to claim LaRusso popped into his head. But Dutch had never experienced this kind of a pull toward someone, and Johnny didn’t care to hear anymore of his snickering remarks on the topic.

Bobby sighed, sitting on his other side. “You haven’t exactly endeared yourself to him so far. You kicked the shit out of him the first time you saw him, and then you got him kicked out of soccer tryouts. He has good reason to dislike you and be scared of you.” He sighed again when Johnny frowned at him, his eyes blank. “If you want to get on his good side and show you’re not an asshole, maybe try some kind of peace offering.”

Jimmy laughed. “But Johnny’s pretty much always an asshole.”

Johnny glared and kicked him in the shin under the table. Jimmy yelped, reaching down to rub his shin as Johnny smirked smugly at him.

“Yeah, that sure proves you’re not an asshole.” Tommy rolled his eyes. “Maybe you should listen to Bobby more often.”

“Fine. Whatever! A peace offering.” Johnny mulled over the idea as LaRusso reached the end of line to pay for his lunch. He stared at the tray in LaRusso’s hands, noting the various items on it. Then an idea hit him, and he sat up straight with a smirk.

“Uh oh,” Jimmy said with a frightful glance at him. “Johnny was thinking. How bad is this going to go?” Another kick got a louder yelp out of him.

Johnny arched an innocent eyebrow at Jimmy’s glower. Then he stood, swiping a plate from his own tray. He strode over to the table where LaRusso left his bag slung over the back of a chair. A peace offering. That was easy. He could do this. He could show he was more than just the asshole LaRusso met on the beach. When he reached the table, he cast a glance back and found LaRusso still in line, apparently talking animatedly with the lunch lady who was simply trying to return his change. His mouth curled upward. LaRusso could be rather oblivious about how his constant chatter annoyed those around him.

“What do you think you’re doing, Johnny?”

Johnny winced. Hearing Ali’s voice, he realized the error in his plan. LaRusso sat with Ali every lunch since the start of school. If he wanted this plan to work, he needed to speak with LaRusso alone. Ali would only make a mess of everything, like at the beach. And soccer tryouts. He ground his teeth. That first moment up on the hill looking down at the beach, he was pissed seeing LaRusso with Ali because he wanted to try getting back together with her. At that moment, at least. Now, he wasn’t sure why he thought dating her again was a good idea.

Huffing out a loud, annoyed breath, Johnny turned to meet her furious glare. “I didn’t come to talk to you.” He sneered down at her. “But then, you don’t care about talking, do you?” He got it. Okay? He knew he could be a total asshole. His friends poked fun of him about it all the time. And he got that he and Ali were always pushing each other’s buttons and making everything into a fight. At least, for the past year or so of their relationship. Ali knew exactly how to provoke him, trying to make him look like an aggressive asshole in front of everyone at the beach. He only wanted to talk.

Ali stood up, her glare still firmly in place. “Oh, so you came to ‘talk’ to Daniel?” She even lifted her hands to put quotes around the word talk. “Because your idea of talking usually involves your fists and his face.”

Johnny attempted to subtly glance over to LaRusso. He had finished up with paying for his lunch and weaving his way through the tables toward them. So far, he seemed oblivious to Johnny’s presence at his table.

“Oh, don’t even think about it, Johnny!”

He snapped his head back around. His brow knitted as he stared at her. “Think about what?”

Ali lifted an eyebrow, like she thought his whole confusion was an act and she wasn’t buying it. “You just can’t help being an asshole, can you?” She gestured with a wild hand, smacking it into the plate he held. The plate jerked, and he barely managed to catch hold of it before it hit the ground and shattered. But the slice of blueberry pie wasn’t so lucky. It leapt from the plate, half of it hitting the ground and the other half hitting the chair.

A thread of horror tickled at the back of his neck. “Oh, that’s just great, Ali!” Johnny glared at her, waving the plate in her face. “Why’d you have to go and do that?”

Ali’s mouth hung open for two seconds before she snapped it shut, lips pressing tightly together. Her wide eyes narrowed, and she lifted an accusing finger at him. But whatever she meant to yell at him was lost, her attention jerking away from him. Johnny stiffened as he realized the reason for it. LaRusso had finally reached the table, his happy bounce slowing to a cautious step as his doe brown eyes darted between Ali and Johnny. The smile he wore upon spotting Ali fell into a wary frown.

“Uh, what’s going on?” LaRusso set his tray down on the table, and Johnny realized with a horrible gut twist that LaRusso remained completely oblivious to what happened just moments before his arrival.

“Nothing. Johnny,” Ali said his name tightly, “was just leaving.”

“Ali,” Johnny growled warningly.

“Uh, okay.” LaRusso blinked at the exchange as he sank onto his seat.

Johnny froze, the anticipation of what was about to transpire kicking in his fight response. He didn’t miss that slight upturn of Ali’s mouth, like she knew she just won. LaRusso sprung up from his seat the next instant, twisting around as he tugged at those god awful camo pants to check the backside. It was stained a horrible blue over the various shades of green. His eyes landed next on the chair at the smashed remains of the blueberry pie. Then he snapped his head up to Johnny, his whole face reddened from embarrassment and rage. His eyes narrowed.

“What the hell?” LaRusso shouted, drawing the attention of almost the entire cafeteria. His hands balled into fists, clearly building up to fight, just like back on the beach.

Johnny could feel all the eyes on him. “What are you going to do about it, twerp?” He puffed up his chest to appear bigger, which was completely unnecessary since LaRusso already looked tiny next to him.

Fire burned in LaRusso’s eyes. A challenge was thrown at him, and he wasn’t going to back down from it, even in the face of getting his ass kicked. Again. LaRusso bent over, dragging his fingers through the blueberry goop. Then, before Johnny could even piece together what the plan was, LaRusso jabbed his hand into Johnny’s chest, smearing as much blueberry goo into his shirt. A victorious gleam lit up his eyes.

The cafeteria let out gasps of shock. Right. Everyone was watching them. Johnny was popular, and a jock, and he earned his spot as king of the school by not showing weakness in front of the student body. It was instinctive. He didn’t even think. His arm shot out, his hand shoving against LaRusso’s chest. Even more gasps rang out with some shouts of, “Fight!” as LaRusso fell back, landing sprawled out on the cafeteria floor. Guilt settled in the pit of his gut as Johnny tossed the empty plate onto the table with a clatter that seemed to ring out. He didn’t even look at LaRusso, not wanting to see the look on his face. As he turned away, he caught Ali and that damn satisfaction in the smirk she wore. Then she was hurrying to LaRusso’s side, playing up the caring friend as she checked him over for injuries.

Johnny bit back a frustrated growl as he stormed away. He snatched his things from his own table before heading toward the exit of the cafeteria. His friends were trailing behind him seconds later.

“Okay. So, that didn’t exactly as planned,” Bobby said, walking at his side with a grimace. “But it’s not completely unsalvageable.”

Johnny spun around, glowering as he stepped toward him. Bobby stared back calmly, not one to be intimidated by Johnny. “ _How_ can this possibly be salvaged?”

“Don’t get pissy at Bobby,” Jimmy said, but he flinched when Johnny shot a glare at him.

“Hey,” Dutch forced his way between them, “it’s not our fault your big plan got ruined. You should have known Ali would mess it up for you.”

Johnny huffed, turning away. He wanted to punch something, but not his friends. He did know it was a mistake, but at the time, it felt like a good idea. Present the blueberry pie as a peace offering. Simple. He and his Cobras always got to the cafeteria early enough to have first dibs on whatever dessert was being offered that day. By the time LaRusso arrived, all the slices of pie were gone. Johnny thought giving up his slice to LaRusso would show he could be a decent person. Ali, of course, had to twist it into another situation where he ended up being an asshole.

“Look. Let’s get you cleaned up,” Bobby offered, steering him toward the bathroom. “And we can think up a new plan to make peace with Daniel.”

“Is that even possible at this point?” Johnny sighed but didn’t fight being guided through the hall.

“You could always just find someone else,” Jimmy offered unhelpfully, as if the decision to claim someone wasn’t a huge thing. Maybe for some vampires who were only to make a pet out of a human it wouldn’t matter as much who they chose to claim.

“Careful,” Dutch warned with a snicker. “Or you might get a few more kicks to the shin.”

“Yeah, thanks for that,” Jimmy muttered bitterly.

Johnny snorted. “You heal. What’s the big deal?” They entered the bathroom. When he looked down at himself, Johnny saw the damage done to his shirt. Blueberry stained the front of it. There was pretty much no hope in saving it. Whatever. He had plenty of money. Or rather, Sid had plenty of money. Johnny didn’t have to worry about ruining a dumb shirt. Even if it was designer and expensive. Tugging it off, he tossed it into the trash in the corner of the room.

“So, what are we doing tonight?” Tommy asked, leaning against the door. “I hope it involves picking up a snack.”

Jimmy punched his shoulder, earning a shout of protest. “No talking about snacks in the school, remember?”

Tommy rolled his eyes. “No one’s listening to us.”

“Even I know it’s better to be safe than sorry,” Dutch pointed out. “Then again, it’s not like anyone would know what we mean by snacks.”

“You know what Kreese said.” Johnny dug around in his bag until he found his gym shirt. “We can’t risk being discovered. So, that means we keep any talk about it to absolute zero.” He pulled the shirt on, a simple, boring white shirt, but it was all he had after LaRusso ruined his other one. “But if we are talking snacks, I think we should go somewhere other than Golf ‘N Stuff. Too many people we know hang around there.”

“I heard there’s this bar where the owner doesn’t care if minors sneak in,” Dutch suggested, mouth curving into a smirk.

Bobby made a face. “And here I thought sneaking in was your favorite part.”

Dutch shrugged. “Sometimes.”

Johnny rolled his eyes, shrugging his bag onto his shoulder. Maybe a night out hunting with the guys was what he needed to take his mind off the LaRusso problem for a while. How could he possibly win LaRusso over after today? Ali was probably filling his head with more stories about just how awful he was, and sadly, LaRusso would believe every word of it. He practically hung onto every word out of Ali’s mouth.

And he was feeling a bit hungry. His mouth watered thinking about going out later that night.

“We can hit the bar after practice tonight,” Johnny said, shoving Tommy out of the way so he could exit the bathroom.


	2. Chapter 2

“Are you okay?” Ali placed her hand on his shoulder, but Daniel shrugged away from it.

“I’m just fine,” Daniel grumbled as he scrambled to his feet. By that time, Johnny had left, taking his Cobra Kai friends with him. He wiped his hand on his pants, smearing even more blueberry mess onto the already ruined camo. His face burned when he heard the laughter around the cafeteria. Just what he needed. As if being the new kid wasn’t already bad enough. He stuck out like a sore thumb, and he was the favorite target of Johnny Lawrence, Mr. Big Man on Campus.

Why did he ever go to that stupid beach party? When Freddie told him about it, Daniel thought it would be a great way to make some friends before the start of the school year. And at first, that seemed to be going well for him. Until Johnny showed up and kicked his ass in front of everyone. Then he had his friend provoke him into fighting during soccer tryouts to get him kicked out. Now Ali was pretty much the only person willing to even talk to him.

And Ali was… Well, Ali was pretty and smart. She was easy to talk to. Most of the time.

“I can’t believe him!” Ali huffed, crossing her arms with a scowl.

Daniel gathered up his things and headed for the exit of the cafeteria. He needed to find a bathroom and change before his next class. Ali followed after him, continuing to complain. Daniel sighed, only vaguely listening.

“He acts like he can treat people however he wants.”

Daniel wondered if she meant that about what just happened in the cafeteria or if she was talking about how Johnny treated her during their relationship. He would have asked her about that, or suggested she try talking to him about it, if he didn’t think that would just make her mad at him. He couldn’t afford to have her anger directed at him too. If she stopped talking to him, he would truly be alone at this school. Though when she got a rant going, he thought maybe the silence would be appreciated.

“What’s his problem anyway?” Daniel headed for a bathroom farther away from the cafeteria so he could be sure to avoid Johnny. “I haven’t even done anything to him this week. Why did he dump a pie on my chair?”

“He’s been like that ever since becoming Cobra Kai’s star student went to his head.” Ali rolled her eyes. “I swear that place just makes guys dumber and more aggressive. I probably should have dumped Johnny long before I did. He just looks for fights wherever he can.”

Daniel nodded as he pushed open the door to the bathroom. It swung shut behind him, and he breathed out a sigh at the silence that followed. Why did they have to move? At least back in Jersey, everything made sense. He had his family. He had his friends. When his big mouth got him into trouble, he knew he would have some backup when a fight broke out. Here, he was all alone. No one had his back, and he was left to get his ass kicked six ways to Sunday.

Sighing, he threw his bag down on the floor. He just wanted to go back to where things were familiar. After he washed his hands clean of the blueberry filling, he crouched down and dug around in his bag until he found the sweatpants he brought for gym. If the blueberry pie incident was going to become a common occurrence, he would need to resort to bringing extra clothes to school. He raked a hand through his hair and glared down at the stained camo pants. He couldn’t do that forever though. They would never be able to afford constantly buying new clothes. Yanking off his shoes, he pulled down his pants before tugging on the sweatpants. He balled up the camo pants and tossed them into the trash can. At least, his mother had a late shift at the restaurant tonight. She wouldn’t be there to see him coming home in sweatpants.

Once he tied his shoes back on, Daniel grabbed up his bag and stepped out of the bathroom. Ali was still there, leaning against the lockers. Even though she waited for him, she was talking to some other boys, smiling, giggling, _flirting_. Why should he be surprised by that? Ali was popular after all. She was friends with almost everyone, and the other guys were always coming up to her, even when he was standing right next to her. Daniel wasn’t sure what that made him, since he wasn’t much compared to all the other guys at this school. At his old school, he didn’t feel so out of place. He was small and scrawny with almost no muscle, but so were a lot of the guys there. He was a stick next to most of the guys here with all their stupid big muscles, like Johnny. Ali’s friends wondered out loud more than once why she even bothered talking to him, and he thought the same almost hourly.

And Ali hadn’t even noticed him yet.

Daniel slipped away while Ali was distracted. He didn’t want to be late to his next class. His math teacher already seemed to hate him. He hitched the strap of his bag up on his shoulder as he walked down the hall. It was more crowded now, in the period right after everyone finished eating lunch and right before the bell rang for the next class to start. He squeezed past groups of students blocking the hall and half considered just skipping the rest of the day when he heard some of them snickering as he passed. His face felt hot. He wanted to punch that ridiculous smirk right off Johnny’s face.

_Because that went so well last time_.

Daniel cursed that traitorous voice in his head. He had never been one to back down from a fight. His mother was always fussing over him whenever he came home all black and blue, sometimes bleeding. After the fight on the beach, he knew those few lessons at the Y and reading out of a book wasn’t going to be enough to stand up to someone like Johnny. He needed real training, which was the whole reason he went to that Cobra Kai place by the restaurant that hired his mother. But of course. Of course! Johnny had to be there, the star student of the place, with his stupid cocky half smirk. And he definitely did not think about that smirk. Like ever! Never! That smirk wasn’t even a memory in his head.

Stupid Johnny and his stupid devilish smirks.

Daniel grumbled to himself as he entered the classroom with his head down. Despite his best attempts not to think about it, he still saw that damn smirk in his dreams. Johnny always stood looming over him, always the victor.

Huffing, Daniel dropped into his seat and leaned forward on the desk. Why couldn’t this day be over?

“Hey, Danny.”

His head popped up, and Daniel twisted around, blinking as Bobby took a seat at the desk next to his, even though Bobby usually sat a few rows up. “Daniel,” he corrected, like an automatic reflex, which was good because his brain was currently stalling out to a puttering death, a complete blank.

“Oh.” Bobby blinked wide eyes. “Right. Sorry. Daniel.” He nodded, smiling big and friendly.

Daniel eyed him warily. It had taken days for the black eye Johnny gave him to fade. Bobby never even had a bruise after Daniel managed to land a punch after tripping him at soccer tryouts. “Why are you talking to me?”

Bobby’s smile fell somewhat as he leaned over the aisle between their desks. “About what happened in the cafeteria-”

Anger flickered hotly up his sides. “Johnny tell you to come rub the humiliation in my face?”

“What?” Bobby held his hands up in a placating gesture. “No! That’s not it at all. Johnny doesn’t even know I’m talking to you.”

Daniel narrowed his eyes, still suspicious of Bobby’s motives. “Then why? Payback for punching you? Because you’re the one that hooked me during tryouts. And I know you did that because Johnny told you to.”

“You’re right. He did.” Bobby rolled his shoulder like the confirmation didn’t matter. “He was still being an idiot and butt hurt after Ali dumped him. But he’s not like that anymore.”

“And putting a blueberry pie on my seat was what exactly?” Frowning, Daniel had a hard time believing Johnny was magically over being an asshole. And why did he act like that in the first place? Just because Ali refused to talk to him at some dumb beach party?

Bobby sighed, flicking his gaze to the front of the class. Their teacher was already in lecture mode, but thankfully wasn’t paying any attention to them at the back of the room. “It was meant to be a peace offering.”

Daniel idly wrote down the equations from the board onto his notebook paper. “Right. Nothing says peace like sitting in pie.”

“It wasn’t supposed to happen like that. Okay?” Bobby reached over and grabbed his wrist, forcing Daniel to stop writing. When his gaze lifted to him, Bobby continued. “He was going to give it to you, but Ali made a big fuss about him being there and slapped it out of his hands. It was just an unfortunate accident that it happened to land on your chair.”

Daniel pulled his lower lip between his teeth, rolling it as he thought over Bobby’s words. Johnny wanting to give him any kind of peace offering just sounded bizarre. “Why?” he asked slowly. “Johnny hates me.”

“He really doesn’t.” Bobby said it was such seriousness that it was almost hard not to believe him. “He just got upset because Ali was pulling the same kind of shit she does whenever she wants to make Johnny look like the bad guy. He just wanted to talk to her, but she kept turning on her radio to shut him up. Then when you came in, acting like the white knight, he just kind of,” Bobby hunched his shoulders, “lost it. I’m not,” he held up a hand, “saying his actions were justified or that I agree with them. That’s just kind of the effect Ali has on him. We’ve always told Johnny their relationship wasn’t good. He finally gets that. He’s not interested in Ali anymore.”

Daniel nodded slowly. “I’m still not sure I get the whole peace offering thing.”

“Because he hurt you. More than once. And he regrets that. He doesn’t want you to think he’s a total asshole.”

“But why?”

Bobby shrugged but didn’t offer an answer. “Hey, since Johnny ruined your pants, technically, I guess, I think it’s only fair he buys you some new pants.”

Daniel’s brow knitted. “So, he’s trying to buy my friendship or something?”

Bobby quickly shook his head. “No, that’s not what I meant. But you deserve an apology for what happened. Anyway, I’m the one suggesting it, not Johnny. It’ll just be his money.” He leaned back into his seat. “Just meet me after school and I can take you. I’ve got some time before I have to be at Cobra Kai since we have a later class today.”

Daniel frowned for the rest of class, trying to focus on what their teacher was saying. If what Bobby said was right, then Daniel deserved an apology for more than just what happened in the cafeteria. And it should come from Johnny himself, not through his friends. He tilted his head in thought. It was easier hearing all of this from Bobby, though. If Johnny walked up to him right after the scene in the cafeteria, Daniel would have been too angry to listen to a word he said. He probably would have picked a fight with Johnny and made the whole thing between them worse.

The bell rang, and Bobby was out of the room before it even registered to Daniel that class ended. Sighing, he gathered up his things and hurried out of the room to head to his next class. He couldn’t concentrate for the rest of the day. His mind kept turning over what happened in the cafeteria. Yeah, Johnny acted a bit antagonistic toward him, asking him what he would do and shoving him to the ground. But he hadn’t gone beyond that. He could have punched Daniel or started whaling on him once Daniel was on the ground. But he hadn’t. He walked away. It was like - Like what? Daniel scratched at his head, struggling to understand the mystery that was Johnny Lawrence.

Ali found him at his locker when school ended. “Hey,” she greeted, leaning up against the locker next to his. She was with her friend. Sara? Cindy? Sally? Daniel couldn’t remember, but the other girl scowled at him like he was a smear of mud on her brand new, and expensive, shoes. “We were thinking of heading to Golf ‘N Stuff. They have this new game. I think you’ll like it.”

“Oh, uh.” Daniel hesitated, pretending to search his locker for the books he needed for his homework. Then he remembered Bobby’s offer. Did he really want to hang out with one of the Cobra Kai gang instead of Ali? Apparently, he did. He frowned into the depths of his locker at that realization. “Maybe another time? I kind of promised my ma I’d come home straight after school today.” He grabbed the last book he needed and stuffed it into his bag. “I think she’s just worried I’m going to get into fights if I stay out late after seeing that black eye.” He waved a hand near his eye as he slung his bag over his shoulder.

Ali nodded, but she had this look in her eyes. Daniel resisted the urge to chew on his lip, fearing she saw right through his lie.

“Come on, Ali,” her friend said as she tugged on Ali’s sleeve. “If he wants to be weird, let him. No reason to spend more time than necessary on him.”

_Rude_ , Daniel thought, shooting a glare at her. He really didn’t like Ali’s friends.

“I guess, I’ll see you later.” Ali gave a small smile before she turned to walk away with her friend.

Daniel released his breath in a rush as he slammed the locker door shut, giving the combination lock a spin. He walked down the hall, each step making his stomach twist. Bobby was, well, nice. He was probably the nicest out of the Cobra Kai gang. But it didn’t make it any less terrifying in Daniel’s mind to be trapped hanging out with him. And maybe the whole offer _was_ a trap. Except Bobby seemed too honest, too sincere, to lie about something like this. When he stepped out the front entrance of the school, he scanned the parking lot and spotted Bobby leaning up against a car. He was alone. No other Cobras in sight. Daniel swallowed hard then made his way over to him.

“Hey.” Bobby smiled as Daniel approached. “Glad you decided to show. Hop in.” He pushed away from the hood of his car.

“Uh, I have my bike,” Daniel said, shifting his weight.

Bobby nodded as some idea seemed to roll around in his head. “If you want, you can take that home. Just give me your address, and I can drop by to pick you up.”

“No!” Daniel winced at the too quick response. Seeing the fancy cars and dirt bikes the Cobras all had, he didn’t want any of them coming anywhere near his apartment complex. He knew they could see how poor he was just by looking at him. He didn’t need them coming around where he lived and mocking him for the shittiness of his apartment. “I just, I mean,” he shrugged a shoulder, trying to seem nonchalant, “it’d probably be easier to just drop me off back here afterward.”

Bobby lifted an eyebrow. “Okay. If that’s what you want.” But the way he said it made it feel like he thought Daniel was being weird.

Lowering his head, Daniel hurried to get into the car with Bobby. Why should that bug him? He already knew they thought he was weird. He picked at his thumbnail while Bobby pulled out of his spot and drove for the exit of the school’s parking lot.

“You can relax, you know.” Bobby chuckled, leaning back in his seat, one hand on the steering wheel and the other arm resting on the door with the window down.

“I’m relaxed,” Daniel argued, but his shoulders hunched up and he drew in on himself like he was trying to be even smaller than he already was.

“Oh yeah, you’re totally relaxed.” Bobby rolled his eyes, a good natured smile slanting across his face. “That’s why every muscle in you is pulled tight like you’re waiting for the shot to signal the moment to push off the starting blocks and run away.”

“Well,” Daniel rolled his gaze to look at him, “I’m sitting in a car with a guy who is friends with the dude who beat me up the first time he saw me. It doesn’t exactly give me good time feelings.”

“Don’t forget I’m one of the guys you punched.” Bobby grinned, and it was weird that he seemed totally cool about riding around with a guy who punched him. But maybe it seemed like it should be weird only because it was Daniel. The Cobras probably punched each other all the time while training in karate.

Daniel licked his lips then swallowed. “Sorry about that. I shouldn’t have hit you.”

Bobby shrugged. “I shouldn’t have purposely tripped you up. Even if Johnny wanted me to. We all make stupid mistakes.” He pulled into a parking lot for the mall and found a space decently close to the entrance. After he parked, he turned to Daniel with a wide grin as he pulled out a wad of twenties and held it up. “Ready to blow Johnny’s money?”

Daniel stared. There were at least five, maybe six, twenties there. At the right store, he could get a few pairs of pants, maybe a couple of shirts, practically a whole new wardrobe. “Yeah, okay.”

Bobby held his gaze for a moment. “No camo though.” He laughed when Daniel made a face. “We’re going to get you some good stuff.” He pushed his door open and climbed out, leaving Daniel no room to argue.


	3. Chapter 3

Johnny stuffed the books he didn’t need into his locker. He felt satisfied after a night out with his friends. As Dutch said, the bar let them in without even bothering to card them. They weren’t there for the alcohol, though. Once inside, they hit the dance floor and began their hunt. It didn’t take any of them very long. A few charming words and smiles, and they usually found someone they could steal away for a little taste of their blood. They were careful. They never took too much, never drained anyone they bit. Jimmy was surprisingly good at using a thrall to make them forget about being bitten, wipe away any memory of them from their victims’ minds. They would wake up the next day feeling a little faint but otherwise okay once they got some fluids back in them.

And since they were still partially human, they didn’t need to feed on blood nearly as much as a full vampire. After last night, they could go nearly a month before having to feed again. There were certainly some advantages to being a human/vampire hybrid. They used to be a lot rarer, decades, maybe centuries ago. Back then, most vampires thought the idea of trying to create a hybrid was some kind of perversion of true vampires. Johnny didn’t look up the history on the topic too much, but he was sure Bobby probably knew all about it. All he knew was sometime over a century or two ago, one vampire decided to try. After lots of trial and error, he succeeded.

The first of their kind was born, literally born, from a pregnant woman turned before she could give birth. The baby had all the strength of a vampire but lacked many of their weaknesses. They could survive in daylight, they gave off body heat, holy items were less effective on them, and later on, it was discovered they could even have children themselves. The vampire continued to create more of these hybrid children, and those children once they progressed to adulthood had children of their own. Now, hybrids were far more common.

True vampires still hated them. Being partially human, hybrids possessed a sense of humanity that disgusted true vampires.

Johnny basically thought “fuck you” to those assholes. He liked his humanity and all the advantages that came with it. Not all hybrids were some kind of white hat do-gooder type. He just had to take a look at Kreese to know some hybrids were as cold-hearted and brutal as any true vampire. Kreese only had his rules about feeding to avoid drawing too much attention to them. In the dojo, Kreese was a merciless sensei.

Johnny still felt relieved that LaRusso didn’t stick around and try to join Cobra Kai. He could only imagine how much Kreese would enjoy trying to break someone like LaRusso. The thought made his stomach clench painfully.

“What’s your plan?”

Johnny sighed as he closed his locker. “What are you talking about, Ali?” He slung his bag over his shoulder before he turned to face her.

Ali narrowed her eyes, standing with her arms folded, her books clutched to her chest. “I mean, what are you planning with Daniel? And don’t,” she snapped a hand up, pointing a finger in his face, “try to say you aren’t planning something. You were acting weird yesterday at lunch. Then Daniel says he can’t hang out with me because he has to go straight home, but then I spot him at the mall with _Bobby_. So, I’m going to ask you again: What are you planning?”

“Look. I had no idea he was going to hang out with Bobby.” Johnny met her angry scowl with a blank stare. He was lying, of course. Bobby had approached him before the end of school yesterday asking him for money. After Bobby explained the reason why he wanted the money, Johnny coughed it up without a second thought. If anyone could smooth things over with LaRusso after the blueberry pie disaster, it was Bobby.

And Johnny felt like wringing Bobby’s neck when he spotted LaRusso this morning in those new jeans. The jeans themselves weren’t anything special. It was the way they wrapped snugly around LaRusso’s legs and hugged his ass in all the right places. Johnny might appreciate the view it gave him, but he didn’t like the looks he spotted some people giving LaRusso now.

“I don’t believe that for one second.” Ali stepped in closer, anger pumping through her. “You must have told Bobby to do something with Daniel. I just don’t get how you could have convinced Daniel to go along with it. All you’ve done to him so far is be an asshole and beat him up. Why can’t you just leave him alone? If this is about us, I can tell you acting like this won’t make me want you back.”

Johnny rolled his eyes. “Not everything is about you, Ali.” He turned and started walking down the hall. He was done with the conversation, but apparently Ali wasn’t.

“Right,” Ali said with a sneer in her voice. “And you beat Daniel up because you weren’t interested in getting back together with me.”

Johnny stopped and spun around without warning, and Ali nearly walked right into him. “I was just trying to talk to you. But you’ve made it very clear there’s no talking to you. So, congrats. You got what you wanted. I don’t want to talk to you, and I’m no longer interested in you. Have fun telling all your friends what a horrible person I am.” He turned to walk away, but Ali hurried to place herself in his way.

“Just stay away from Daniel.” Ali glared firmly.

Johnny snorted. “You don’t _own_ him. If LaRusso wants to talk to me, that’s his business. I don’t know why you’re acting so possessive of him.”

“Uh, because he’s my friend.”

“I wonder about that.” Johnny shrugged then pushed past her to continue down the hall to his class. Sometimes, when he watched them, it just didn’t feel like Ali treated LaRusso like a friend. Maybe that was just his own imagination, his desire to see something wrong between them. He shook his head as he entered his next class: history. He groaned internally, walking over to his desk. He folded his arms over his desk. How long could he sleep during class without the teacher catching him?

His eyes were already drooping shut when someone stopped in front of his desk. Johnny lifted his gaze, locking them with LaRusso’s big brown eyes. He stared dumbly for a minute before his eyebrow twitched upward. After the conversation with Ali, Johnny almost forgot he shared history with LaRusso. He held back a victorious smirk. Ali could yell at him to keep his distance all she liked, but LaRusso clearly wasn’t going to stay away from him.

LaRusso shifted his weight, and Johnny struggled with himself not to drop his gaze to what was practically right in front of his face. Bobby had to know exactly what he was doing when he got those jeans for LaRusso. Johnny kept his eyes up, watching the way LaRusso bit at the corner of his mouth.

“Um,” LaRusso finally said then swallowed, “Bobby said that pie was supposed to be a peace offering.” When Johnny nodded mutely, LaRusso blinked wide eyes. “Huh. Why?”

Johnny searched LaRusso’s eyes, curiosity gleaming in their depths. Bobby told him about the conversation he had with LaRusso, but obviously LaRusso was looking to get an answer directly from him. “I was acting like a dick when we met. I ended up hurting you, and I shouldn’t have. So, I just wanted to apologize and show you that being an asshole isn’t the whole of who I am.”

“Oh.” LaRusso continued standing there, looking a bit stunned. Was he expecting some other kind of answer? Did he think Bobby had lied to him about Johnny’s reasons? Then he lowered his gaze, shifting his weight as he chewed on his lip. “I guess I should apologize too.”

“You-” Johnny sat up straighter.

“Take your seats,” Mr. Harris said when he walked in just seconds before the bell to start class rang. He picked up a piece of chalk and turned to the board to write today’s lesson on it.

LaRusso offered a tentative smile before he walked off to take his seat. Johnny stared at the back of his head throughout class. Maybe winning LaRusso over wasn’t completely hopeless. Ali was still a problem. If she planned on sticking her nose into his business. He frowned. Maybe he would have to try patching things up with her. Get on her good side enough for her to stop bad mouthing him to LaRusso.

“Lawrence, you’ll be paired up with Kinsley,” Mr. Harris announced.

Johnny groaned inwardly. He hadn’t paid attention to the assignment, and usually, being partnered up meant he could hopefully rely on the other person to know what the hell was going on in class. But Leah Kinsley? She was only slightly better than being paired up with Marcus Nolan. Johnny glanced across the room to where Leah sat, and - Great. It looked like she probably paid even less attention than he did. Johnny pressed at his eyes. He was going to have to ask Mr. Harris what the assignment was, which meant admitting he didn’t pay attention in class. Oh, how he looked forward to the disappointed look Mr. Harris would give him.

The bell rang, and Johnny gathered up his books. When he looked, Leah had already left the classroom. Typical. She probably wouldn’t even bother to talk to him about the assignment until the day before it was due. Johnny rolled his eyes as he walked over to their teacher. After getting the assignment, and Mr. Harris’ frown, he left the classroom.

“So, uh, when do you want to get together to work on the assignment?”

Johnny’s attention immediately locked onto LaRusso a few feet down the hall. LaRusso was standing next to Nolan, who had his head in his locker, probably in an attempt to avoid LaRusso.

“Why don’t you do it yourself?” Nolan shoved LaRusso back a step with one hand to his chest. “I don’t have time to waste with you.”

Johnny closed his hands into fists, fighting back the desire to go slam the locker on Nolan’s head. LaRusso frowned, actually looking hurt.

“What’s LaRusso doing with Marcus?” Jimmy slapped a hand down on Johnny’s shoulder.

“Unlucky partnering in history,” Johnny explained while he kept his gaze on the interaction down the hall. LaRusso continued trying to convince Nolan to meet up to work on the assignment. Johnny knew from experience it was a pointless effort. Nolan never helped out with paired assignments. Honestly, he felt bad that LaRusso had the misfortune of getting Nolan as his partner. And not just because it meant LaRusso would be forced to do the assignment by himself.

Jimmy nodded then turned to him with a smirk. “There might be an opportunity there for you.”

Johnny eyed him curiously. “Go on?”

“We’ll talk in class.” Jimmy led the way down the hall.

When he looked back, Johnny saw LaRusso had given up, needing to head to class before he was late. Their next class was on the other side of the building. It was chemistry, and they were lab partners. Thanks to vampire hearing, they didn’t have to sit next to each to have a conversation. But it drew less attention with them sitting next to each other. Johnny remembered last year when he had class with Dutch. Their stations were on opposite sides of the room, and their lab partners always gave them weird looks when they noticed them moving their lips while speaking low enough that human ears couldn’t hear them.

Johnny slid onto his seat, dropping his bag at his feet. “So, what were you thinking?” he murmured quietly as he leaned forward on the table.

“Well, if he’s stuck with Marcus as a partner,” Jimmy said, pulling out his notebook for class, “then he’s stuck doing all the work. How do you think he’d feel if someone else in class offered to give him a hand on the assignment?”

“I suck at history,” Johnny pointed out with a frown.

“So?” Jimmy lifted an eyebrow, and Johnny glared at him. “Okay.” He held up a placating hand. “Well, who did you get for a partner?”

Johnny groaned and dropped his head onto the table. “Kinsley.”

“Ouch.” Jimmy patted him on the shoulder. “But hey!” Some cheer entered his voice. “That actually helps with this plan. Your partner sucks. His partner sucks. Mr. Harris won’t let you switch, but you can still offer to help each other out. And maybe he’s good with history. It could be a benefit to you.”

Johnny turned his head, frowning up at Jimmy. “Okay. Maybe you make some good points with this plan.” With a sigh, he sat up and gave the room a quick glance. No one was paying them any attention, and the teacher was busy explaining whatever. “I still have to take care of Ali.”

Jimmy eyed him narrowly. “Take care of?” He frowned as his brow pinched in the middle.

“Not-” Johnny shook his head, exhaling loudly. “I don’t mean that in some sinister way. But she came up to me earlier being all pissy about Bobby taking LaRusso to the mall yesterday. She thinks I’m planning something.” He rolled his eyes.

Jimmy chuckled lowly. “Well, I mean, you _are_. Just not what she probably thinks you are.”

“Yeah,” Johnny rolled his eyes, “not sure why she thinks I’m planning, like, murdering LaRusso after Bobby bought him some new pants. But I’m going to have to play nice with her.”

Jimmy grimaced. “Hm, yeah, I think I get what you mean. And you have your work cut out for you there. Ali has been pretty pissed at you since the breakup, and it only got worse after what happened at the beach.”

“Stupid beach,” Johnny grumbled, almost wishing they had never bothered to go there that night. “It would be a lot easier to make peace with Ali if she would actually talk to me and not just attack me.”

“Hm.” Jimmy’s mouth pursed as he thought. “That will be quite the challenge. I guess there are some downsides to being attracted to someone who’s stubborn.” He smirked, and Johnny shoved him as he glowered.

Johnny tried to turn his attention back to class. At least, he had the beginnings of a plan to spend more time with LaRusso.


	4. Chapter 4

Daniel sighed as he debated for a minute before grabbing a banana to place on his tray.

“Hey!”

He nearly jumped when someone appeared beside him until he looked and saw it was only Ali. “Oh, uh, hi.” Daniel slid down the line with his tray. He was already tired of trying to think up ways to get his history partner to meet up so they could work on their assignment together. Marcus wouldn’t budge, despite all of Daniel’s pestering, and the back of his head still hurt from being slammed into the lockers before Marcus stalked off. He never had this kind of problem back in Jersey, never had a partner so determined to avoid helping out on an assignment.

Ali frowned. “What’s wrong? Did Johnny do something to you again?” She placed a hand on his arm.

“What?” Daniel snapped his head around. “No! Johnny hasn’t done anything to me. Why do you always jump to the worst with him?”

Ali leveled a flat stare on him. “You have to ask? Have you already forgotten about how he gave you a black eye?”

Daniel sighed, taking his tray over to pay for his lunch. “How could I possibly forget? I only had to look at it every day in the mirror.” He tossed a cautious glance around the cafeteria while he handed over the money to the lunch lady. Johnny was sitting with his Cobra pals, and they seemed to be busy discussing something, their heads together while they all sat around Johnny. What were they up to? There was a brief moment where Johnny’s head lifted, and Daniel thought for sure their eyes locked with each other, but he jerked his gaze away almost immediately. His heart jumped into his throat.

“But you’re okay just forgiving him after that?”

Daniel turned back to Ali. She had her arms folded and an eyebrow lifted in a haughty expression. “Well, I don’t know that I’ve forgiven him completely just yet. But do you really want to spend the rest of the year being angry with him?” He started walking toward the table where they usually sat, with Ali’s friends. “I still don’t even really know the whole story behind why you broke up with him in the first place.”

Ali sighed as she took her seat. Her friends were already sitting at the table, gossiping with each other. “I guess you could say our relationship had been on the rocks for a while. I swear Cobra Kai really warped his mind.”

Daniel frowned, popping open the milk carton he picked up. He remembered when he stepped into Cobra Kai. Their sensei seemed way too intense, barking out that mantra. It was like he was some crazy drill sergeant. As much as he wanted to learn karate, Daniel didn’t think that was the place for him. “Was that the only reason? Because he got really dedicated to karate?”

“You say that like I wasn’t a supportive girlfriend or something.” Ali picked at the crust on her sandwich. “I went to all of his matches for two years, and I cheered him on. I was very supportive. I just didn’t like when he took that aggressive attitude off the mat. Look what happened at the beach. You were just trying to be a nice guy, and he kicked your ass for it. And every time we hung out together, it always seemed to turn into a shouting match. It’s like Cobra Kai has him thinking everything in life has to be a battle, and he has to be the one to win it. And then he just completely forgot about my birthday.”

Daniel mulled that over while he ate his banana. He wasn’t some innocent angel when it came to fighting. At the beach, his first response to Johnny’s aggression toward him was to go into fight mode. And he smeared blueberry pie filling all over Johnny’s shirt. He could have tried talking things out, de-escalating the situation. But he was a hothead. His mother said that often enough with a disappointed sigh when he came home with bruises. It was why he lied about how he got the black eye. He didn’t want her getting worried about him being in fights.

The birthday thing made him pause though.

“Have you tried talking to him about that?” Daniel lifted a curious eyebrow.

“About the fighting?” Ali huffed. “All the time!”

“No, about missing your birthday.”

Ali blinked at him, like the thought never occurred to her. “Well, he never even tried to apologize for it.” She held her chin up.

“What if that’s why he wanted to talk to you at the beach?” Daniel chugged down a gulp of his milk.

“Johnny’s too much a meathead to realize when he’s wrong,” Ali’s friend said. Sharon? Sandra? Daniel was ready to give up trying to remember her name. He was also tempted to tell her to butt out of their conversation. He didn’t think Ali would like that too much though. “But speaking of being in the wrong,” she leaned on the table, glaring viciously at Daniel, “do you want to apologize for lying to Ali yesterday? You said you had to go home right away, but then we saw you at the mall. With Bobby.”

“Yeah!” Ali turned on him with a frown. “What was that about? What were you doing with Bobby?”

Daniel felt like bristling, hackles up. Why did he need to explain himself to them? It wasn’t any of _their_ business what he did with someone else. Excluding the whole lying about where he was thing. “Bobby asked me to hang out. Since you’ve been hating on Johnny this whole time, I didn’t think that was something you wanted to hear. You seem to think poorly of all the Cobra Kai guys.”

Ali’s friend snorted. “Sounds like someone’s a fanboy of the Cobras.”

“I’m not a fanboy.” Daniel scowled. “Bobby’s nice. And I had fun hanging out with him. That’s all.” His mouth pursed thinly when Ali’s friend scoffed. “You know,” he grabbed his bag, slinging it over his shoulder, “I need to look up some stuff at the library for a class assignment.” He picked up his tray. “I want to get a head start on it.”

After he dumped his trash, Daniel placed the tray with the others then left the cafeteria. He sighed as he walked, raking a hand through his hair. Why did he have to get stuck with such a stubborn partner for this assignment? He wasn’t terrible with history, but it wasn’t one of his favorite subjects. The rest of lunch saw him in the library looking up books that might help him with his assignment. Just because he had a shitty partner, it didn’t mean he planned on failing the assignment.

“Trouble in paradise?” Bobby asked, sitting beside him again in the class they shared.

Daniel blinked at him. Was this going to be a thing now? As nice as Bobby was, Daniel was still unused to people, other than Ali, talking to him here. “What do you mean?”

“It seemed like you left lunch in a bit of a huff.” Bobby shrugged, pulling out his math book. “So, I was just wondering if you and Ali had a fight.”

“Oh.” Daniel twirled his pencil with his fingers. “Not really a fight. I guess just differing opinions. It’s just,” he hunched his shoulders briefly, “exhausting listening to Ali sometimes. Like, she wants me to agree with her that Johnny is awful just because of what happened at the beach. And yeah, maybe Cobra Kai-” He snapped his mouth shut, sending a hesitant glance toward Bobby.

“Cobra Kai?” Bobby prompted, eyebrows lifting inquisitively. Nothing signaled anger, but Daniel still couldn’t get the words out of his mouth. “You know you’re allowed your opinions, right? I’m not dumb enough to think everyone loves Cobra Kai.”

Daniel swallowed, nervousness twisting tightly in his gut. “The place kind of scared the crap out of me.”

Bobby laughed, warm and genuine, and Daniel relaxed a little. “Yeah, I can see that. It felt pretty intimidating the first time I visited the place. But I wanted to get stronger.” He shrugged. “If you don’t like it there, maybe we could still teach you a few things outside of the dojo. But there are other styles of karate you could learn too. Maybe you just need to find the right sensei.”

Daniel nodded. “Yeah, maybe.” He had no idea where he would find a sensei. “I feel like Dutch would rip my head off if I trained with you.”

Bobby snickered. “Yeah, he can be a bit, uh, intense.” He turned to the front as their teacher started their lesson.

Daniel followed along, though his thoughts wandered. The Cobras weren’t as horrible as he originally thought. Bobby, at least, was all right. Johnny was still up in the air. Daniel was waiting on a proper apology from him.

His head was still throbbing dully when he walked out of his last class. Daniel touched the tender spot on the back of his head, frowning as he headed down the hall. What was he supposed to do? He still didn’t have an answer. Should he even bother trying to talk to Marcus again? He could do all the work by himself, and he would if he had to, but it would be a lot easier if his partner would actually help him out. When he lifted his gaze, he spotted Marcus turning into a room just down the hall.

_All right, Daniel. This time you’re going to do it_ , he tried to convince himself. Daniel jogged down the hall, pushed open the door, and followed Marcus into the classroom.

“Mar-” The name died in his throat, the door clicking shut behind him. Daniel’s eyes widened at the scene in front of him. Marcus pressed up against the teacher - a woman Daniel didn’t recognize because he wasn’t in one of her classes - trapping her between his body and the chalkboard. He already had a hand under her blouse, and her face was flushed pink.

Oh.

Oh, shit!

Daniel stumbled back a step, but before he could scramble to get the door open again, Marcus was on him, shoving him into the door. His head hit the hardwood, and he winced at the renewed pain. A forearm pressed into this throat, crushing his airway.

“You just can’t help sticking your nose into other people’s business,” Marcus growled while Daniel struggled, trying to push him off him. “No wonder everyone hates you.”

“Marcus!” the teacher snapped out sharply, a warning in her tone.

Marcus’ green eyes glared coldly into Daniel, who could barely catch his breath, his lungs burning with effort. The teacher grabbed hold of his arm and yanked him away. Daniel dropped to his knees when the forearm released him. He gasped greedily, rubbing at his throat as the palm of his other hand slapped against the tiled flooring.

“What?” Marcus growled, and Daniel flicked his gaze up to the couple. How did he end up in this situation? He just wanted to get the stupid history assignment finished. “Do you want him to go around telling everyone about us?”

“I won’t,” Daniel said, his voice rough, quiet. His throat hurt, and he grimaced.

“Yeah,” Marcus grabbed a fistful of Daniel’s hair, jerking his head up harshly, “you won’t. Because if one word of this gets out, I’m going to kick your ass.” He shoved a finger into Daniel’s face.

“Marcus! That’s enough!” Her stern tone did nothing to make Marcus back down.

“I wasn’t going to say anything!” Daniel said hurriedly as he held up his hands.

“I’ll be making sure that you don’t.” Marcus let go of his hair then immediately punched Daniel in the face. The blow jerked his head back, and Daniel hit his back into the door with a grunt. “Stay away from me and out of my business.”

“Violence isn’t the way to handle this.” The teacher wore a disapproving frown, standing with her hands on her hips.

“It is if it makes him keep his big mouth shut.” Marcus glared at him as Daniel climbed to his feet, grimacing at the familiar pain of a black eye. He made like he was about to punch again, and Daniel flinched. He snickered. “Just remember. I’ll be watching.”

Daniel nodded jerkily then rushed out of the classroom. He didn’t stop running until he made it to the bike rack, avoiding the route to his locker, even if it meant leaving behind whatever books he might need from it. Homework was a faraway thought in his head. He just wanted to get home and not think about anything for a while. Maybe put some ice on his eye.

Great. He sighed as he worked on undoing the lock on his bike. Now he would have to explain away another black eye to his mother. He doubted she would believe he had another bike accident. He didn’t think she really even believed the lie the first time.

Daniel rode all the way back to the apartment complex, pedaling as fast as his feet could. When he arrived, he jumped off his bike, parking it around back. He stomped over to open the gate when he paused. He turned his head. The door to the maintenance man’s room was open, the light on. Curiously, he walked over to it. Maybe he should have learned not to go poking his nose where it didn’t belong after that incident with Marcus, but maybe he was a little slow there. When he peeked in, he spotted Mr. Miyagi tinkering with something.

“Um,” Daniel knocked on the doorframe, “hello?”

Mr. Miyagi turned his head. For a moment, it seemed like he was going to turn silently away again, but then his attention snapped back to Daniel. He frowned. “Another bike accident, Daniel-san?”

Daniel slipped into the room, windchimes rattling when he pushed open the screen door. “Um, no.” He lowered his gaze, shifting his weight. “Just some trouble at school.”

Mr. Miyagi frowned, and Daniel couldn’t help feeling guilty, even if the expression seemed more concerned than disapproving. He guided Daniel over to a stool to sit on then disappeared to another room. When he returned, he held a damp folded towel, white with blue designs. He carefully pressed it to the bruising eye, but Daniel still hissed at the light pressure.

“Um, Mr. Miyagee.” Daniel took hold of the towel.

“Mi-ya-gi,” he enunciated as he went back to his work. Now that he was up close, Daniel could see Mr. Miyagi was working on fixing the wiring in a lamp.

“Oh. Right. Sorry.” Daniel flushed in embarrassment for getting the name wrong. “Miyagi,” he repeated, and the man bobbed his head. “Um, so, Mr. Miyagi, do you know karate?”

Mr. Miyagi turned to him, the frown back on his face, and now Daniel felt the weight of disapproval from it. “Why Daniel-san want to learn karate?”

Daniel licked his lips then swallowed. It felt like if he said the wrong thing then Mr. Miyagi would turn him away. Assuming he did, in fact, know karate. “I want to be able to defend myself. There’s this guy at school who has it out for me. I don’t want to be some punching bag for him. I know there’s this dojo near where my ma works, but, well, it didn’t really seem like the right place for me. I thought maybe if I found someone else to teach me, I wouldn’t have to worry about this guy beating me up. I understand if you don’t want to teach me.” He waved his free hand. “I mean, I don’t even know if you know karate or not.” He ducked his head. “Sorry if I’m just assuming. I’m sorry if I’m bothering you, Mr. Miyagi.”

“Daniel-san,” Mr. Miyagi clapped his hands on Daniel’s arms. “Miyagi will teach. But Daniel-san must remember most important rule of Miyagi karate.”

Daniel jerked his head up, his good eye widening. “Yeah! Of course! What’s the rule?”

“Karate is for defense only.” Mr. Miyagi nodded firmly.

“Yeah. Yeah! I can remember that.” Daniel grinned brightly. He wasn’t looking to go around beating up everyone he crossed paths with, after all. He just didn’t want to be scared the next time Marcus threatened him.


	5. Chapter 5

Johnny checked the time as he stood leaning against the lockers. It was well past the end of school, but he still hadn’t seen LaRusso. He frowned, turning to look down the hall as his friends approached.

“What’s with the hold up?” Dutch asked in a huffy tone. “Kreese won’t like it if we’re late.”

“Have any of you seen LaRusso yet?” Johnny folded his arms, his mouth thinning when his friends all shook their heads. Where the heck was he? Johnny planned on asking him about working on the history assignment together, since they both ended up with such lousy partners. But he couldn’t ask if LaRusso never showed up.

“Cheer up!” Tommy slapped a hand down on his shoulder. “You’ll see him tomorrow.”

Johnny shot him a withering glare.

“Uh oh,” Jimmy mumbled, looking past their group. “Ali’s coming over this way.”

Johnny glanced back then sighed. Ali had a determined look in her eyes. “You guys better head out. No reason for Kreese to get pissed at all of you too. I’m sure this thing with Ali is going to take a while.”

Bobby patted him on the shoulder. “We’ll try to cover for you.” He winced. “Well, as best as we can. You know Kreese doesn’t really take excuses well.”

“Just don’t get yourself in trouble for me.” Johnny waved his friends off, watching as they headed down the hall toward the front exit of the building. Once they were gone, Ali approached him, and Johnny resisted the urge to sigh tiredly. “What is it now? I haven’t done anything to give you a reason to be mad at me.”

Ali’s mouth pursed as her eyes narrowed. She kept her books hugged to her chest. “Yeah, well, Daniel seems to think you’re not that bad a guy.”

Johnny bit the inside of his cheek to stop the smirk threatening to break onto his face. A warmth swelled in his chest. It felt like his chances with LaRusso kept improving.

“I’m still not fully convinced, but I like Daniel, so I don’t want him to be mad at me.” Ali considered him for a long moment. “Why did you approach me at the beach?”

Johnny sighed, nearly rolling his eyes. They were still on this? “At the time, I thought maybe we could work things out, maybe get back together. But I think we both know now that was never going to happen.” He shrugged. “Which is probably for the best since we’re not really well suited for each other, are we?”

“No, we really weren’t.” Ali sighed, swiping back a lock of her blonde hair like it annoyed her. “It wasn’t so bad in the beginning. But all the Cobra Kai stuff just made you into a different person.”

Johnny leaned back against the lockers, crossing his arms. His vampire traits didn’t really start presenting themselves until he hit puberty, and by that time he was already in Cobra Kai. Kreese said he recognized what he, and his friends, were because he was also a vampire hybrid. The rest of his friends all had a parent who could teach them about what they were. Johnny didn’t have that. His mother wasn’t one, which meant he had to get it from his father, who abandoned him before he could even know the man. Kreese became that father figure for him. Maybe Johnny allowed that admiration to make him more aggressive, wanting to please Kreese by becoming the strongest.

“Maybe you have a point there.” Johnny frowned. “I acted like a total ass at the beach. I shouldn’t have beat LaRusso up like that. But you were just,” he sucked in a breath, closing his eyes briefly, “infuriating with the way you kept shutting me down when I just wanted to talk.”

“Were you ever planning on apologizing for forgetting my birthday?”

“If it had just been a party with all your friends, I would have happily showed up.”

“What?” Ali leveled a glare on him. “So, you’re admitting that you purposely skipped my birthday? You didn’t just forget it?”

Johnny rubbed at his eyes. “Yes, Ali, I skipped it on purpose.” He dropped his arms to his sides as he pushed away from the lockers. “Because you had this whole big dinner planned. With your parents. It felt like this huge turning point in our relationship that I wasn’t entirely sure we were at yet. And while I’m sure your parents like me far more than they would ever like, say, LaRusso, I still always got that feeling that they were turning their nose up at me.”

Because he wasn’t fool enough to believe Ali’s parents had no idea he was originally from Reseda. It was no big secret that Sid married a single mother, though he did force Johnny to act like he was a native of Encino to everyone he met. Ali’s parents were probably hoping Ali would get tired of him and find someone truly of the same wealthy status as them.

“Johnny,” Ali frowned, her bottom lip jutting out in a little pout, “my parents loved you.”

Johnny almost couldn’t believe Ali was that blind to how her parents looked at him. Of course, they reserved those looks for when Ali couldn’t see them, like they were somehow sparing her from how much they disliked her choice in a boyfriend.

“They only tolerate me because of Sid’s money. They know as soon as I’m out of his house, I won’t have any money to offer you.”

“Johnny, I don’t care about stuff like that.”

“Maybe you don’t, but your parents do.” Johnny sighed. “I just wish you hadn’t sprung the whole birthday dinner with the parents on me like that. It would have been incredibly awkward. Why was that even so important to you?”

“Because you were my boyfriend, and I thought if you saw how serious I was about us, you might-”

“Change?” Johnny cut in, his eyebrows drawing downward.

Ali dropped her gaze guiltily. “It’s not like I wanted to change who you are. I just wanted you to be more like the guy I first started dating.”

“Maybe if we had talked this all out earlier, things could have been different.” Johnny reached up and scratched his hand through his hair. “But I think we’re past the point of salvaging what our relationship used to be. We could try to be friends, if you’re open to that.”

Ali pouted but then nodded slowly. “Yeah. I guess. I’m sorry about springing the whole birthday dinner thing on you like that. I didn’t think it would be such a big deal for you.”

“I probably should have just told you how I felt about it instead of skipping it. I’m sorry about that.”

Ali offered a tentative smile. “So, what’s the deal with Daniel? It feels like you’re going out of your way to try to apologize for kicking his butt at the beach.” She arched an eyebrow at him. “Getting an apology out of you is usually like pulling teeth.” She gestured between them, indicating the whole conversation they literally just had.

“I think,” Johnny grinned, placing a hand on Ali’s shoulder and turning her down the hall toward the exit, “what you really should be asking is: So, what’s up with Tommy? Is he single? Because the answer to that would be yes, yes he is.”

“Johnny.” Ali sent him an annoyed glare as they walked down the hall. It was ruined by the fact that her mouth kept twitching in an attempt not to smile. “Are you trying to distract me by hooking me up with your friend?”

“Distract you?” Johnny scoffed. “Why would I need to distract you?”

“You tell me, Johnny.”

Johnny shrugged. “I have nothing to tell.”

Ali narrowed her eyes at him. “I’ll figure out your secrets eventually, Lawrence.” She poked him in the chest.

“Go ahead and try, Mills.” Johnny smirked. This was what he had liked about their relationship, the playful bantering and bickering they used to have before anger and hostility got mixed into everything. Maybe they could still have that, as friends. Johnny pulled her into a hug before they parted ways. He had to get to the dojo before he was too late. Kreese was going to have him doing pushups on his knuckles until the sun went down.

Johnny had no idea how he managed to get any of his homework done after the hell Kreese put him through for showing up ten minutes late. Had to make an example of him, Kreese claimed. Johnny thought he went a little overboard. If he didn’t have vampire healing, he would be a bruised lump too exhausted and sore to even move any of his limbs. As it was, he only had a few dull aches.

Johnny got to school early, parking his dirt bike out front in the usual spot. He kept his eyes peeled for when LaRusso showed up.

“Sensei really rode your ass hard,” Dutch said when he showed up, surprisingly first among his friends. He usually came last, but apparently, he wanted to come early to tease Johnny, Kreese’s star student getting punished.

Johnny rolled his eyes. “Shut up. At least, I’ve smoothed things over with Ali.”

“Oh? Did you?” Dutch leaned forward on his bike, grinning. “How’d you manage that?”

“Talking.” Johnny shrugged. “Somehow managing not to turn it into a fight. And I may have put the idea of Tommy in her head. He’s going to owe me if she ends up dating him.”

Dutch barked out a laugh. “Oh, damn! I think Tommy might just drop dead on the spot if Ali agrees to go on a date with him.”

Johnny joined in laughing, but now that he was over Ali, he would be happy to see Tommy and her dating. Tommy was a good guy, and Johnny knew he would treat Ali right. Better than Johnny had. And Tommy wouldn’t have to worry about being sneered at by her parents.

The rest of the Cobras showed up not long after while the school came alive with students arriving in all sorts of manners. Johnny half listened to his friends talking and joking around, still watching for that familiar head of dark hair to roll up on his bike. Another fifteen minutes passed before he spotted LaRusso.

“Wish me luck,” Johnny said, climbing off his bike.

“Like you need it,” Bobby called after him, grinning like an idiot.

Johnny waved him off as he headed over to where LaRusso was locking up his bike on the bike rack. “Hey,” he greeted, and LaRusso jerked his head up, wearing those ridiculous aviator sunglasses he had the first day of school. He frowned when he remembered why LaRusso wore them that day. “What’s up with the sunglasses?”

“Oh, just, you know,” LaRusso waved an awkward hand around, “bright morning. Still not used to all this California sun.” He started walking toward the entrance with his head down.

Johnny caught up with him easily. “No, seriously, what’s the deal?”

He caught LaRusso’s arm to stop him, his grip light enough that LaRusso could easily break free if he tried. When LaRusso wouldn’t look at him, Johnny reached out to take the sunglasses off. He did it slow enough to give LaRusso time to move away or protest, but he didn’t. When the sunglasses came off, Johnny felt the rage burn through him as he took in the black eye. He hated himself for hurting LaRusso, later, after he got over his anger about Ali and realized how he really felt toward LaRusso.

“Who did that to you?” Johnny growled.

LaRusso’s head jerked up, his good eye widening in his surprise. When LaRusso shrank back slightly, Johnny hurriedly tried to smooth out the anger on his face.

“I’m not-” Johnny shook his head. “I’m sorry about beating you up before. I felt really bad about it afterward. And maybe some of this reaction is guilt from that. Angry at someone else when I’m still angry at myself.” He sighed. That was more introspective or whatever than he meant it to be.

“You actually apologized,” LaRusso mumbled in disbelief, his eye still wide. Then he ducked his head, rubbing at the back of his neck. “I’m sorry about all that too. I shouldn’t have stuck my nose in your business. I just thought I was sticking up for a friend being harassed. I didn’t even know anything about you and Ali dating at that point. And I’m sorry about ruining your shirt.”

Johnny laughed. “Oh, so we’re on the apology tour bus right now?” He grinned when he noticed some pink rising to LaRusso’s cheeks. “Then I guess I should also apologize for destroying your pants. Though I don’t think it’s a big loss with those camo pants.”

“Hey!” LaRusso protested.

Johnny returned it with a cheeky grin. “I guess we were all acting pretty stupid.” Then he frowned as he looked over the black eye again. “But seriously, who did that to you?”

LaRusso shifted, his gaze wandering and never meeting Johnny’s. “It’s really nothing.”

“If someone’s harassing you, that’s not nothing,” Johnny argued, anger seeping into his tone.

LaRusso frowned but slowly brought his gaze up to lock with Johnny’s. “I found someone to teach me karate, okay? I’m going to learn to defend myself, so you don’t have to come swooping in like my protector. I’m not a complete weakling, you know. I’ve been in plenty of fights before meeting you.”

Anger thrummed through Johnny. He wanted to snap, point out how easily he had kicked LaRusso’s ass only a month ago. But he could hear Bobby’s voice in his head, reminding him that he wouldn’t win any points with LaRusso like that. Taking a deep breath, he tried to force back that rage burning in his gut, telling him to go punch the shit out of whomever hurt LaRusso. Then he focused his attention on replaying LaRusso’s words to him. He frowned at the idea of LaRusso getting into fights before he moved out here.

“You’re taking up karate?”

“Yeah.” LaRusso ducked his head, almost embarrassed. “There’s a guy who works where I live that knows karate. He said he would teach me. For defense.”

“I could teach you some stuff.” Johnny’s frown deepened, but he still felt relieved LaRusso didn’t consider returning to Cobra Kai. He wanted to keep LaRusso away from Kreese.

“Bobby said that too.” LaRusso cracked a grin. “Maybe let me learn a bit from my sensei, and then I could spar a bit with you.”

“Yeah?” Johnny’s mouth curled upward, half smirking. A thrill curled inside him at the idea of facing off against LaRusso, but on a more even footing next time. His fight and fire were a part of what made Johnny realize he was attracted to LaRusso. “Oh! I almost forgot.” The whole black eye situation had distracted him. “About that history assignment. I was thinking maybe we could,” he shrugged, “working on it together. My partner isn’t going to help me out.”

“Ugh!” LaRusso groaned, shoulders slumping. “Tell me about it! My partner is the worst! I started doing some research yesterday, but having someone else doing part of the work would be a big help.”

“I don’t have anything after school today, if you want to do some research together.”

LaRusso blinked then smiled, a big bright one full of gratitude. “Man, that would be great!”

Shit. He just wanted to kiss him right then and there. Fuck what anyone else had to say about it. Instead, Johnny nodded, fighting back his own smile. “Great. Then we can meet after school.”

LaRusso bobbed his head. “Yeah. See you in history.” He waved before hurrying off through the front entrance.

Johnny resisted the urge to pump his fist into the air and celebrate. Maybe he was going to have to owe Bobby and Jimmy for all their help and advice.


	6. Chapter 6

Nervousness had him fidgeting as Daniel walked to history. He hadn’t expected the conversation with Johnny that morning. He finally had an actual apology from Johnny, and it sounded sincere to him. Even though he mentioned wanting to apologize before, he hadn’t actually said the words until now. It brought a smile to Daniel’s face. Johnny wasn’t so bad. When he wasn’t letting his anger get the better of him.

Then his thoughts turned to Marcus and what he saw yesterday. Daniel’s smile fell. The interaction reminded him a little of the encounter on the beach. Daniel ended up in another situation where the boyfriend got mad at him for “sticking his nose where it didn’t belong.” Both incidents ended with him receiving a black eye.

Johnny looked angry when he saw the black eye. Daniel almost thought he would fly off the rails and go hunt down the culprit to return the favor. But Johnny didn’t. And he was surprisingly gentle when he removed his sunglasses, like Daniel could have pulled away and stopped him whenever he wanted. Daniel couldn’t say why he just let it happen. Maybe some subconscious part of him wanted Johnny to see it. But why? Daniel couldn’t puzzle out an answer, and he frowned at his own confusion.

When he entered the classroom, Daniel immediately sought out Marcus. He wasn’t there. Daniel relaxed, letting go of the breath he didn’t realize he was holding. Mr. Miyagi promised to teach him karate, but they wouldn’t start until the weekend. Daniel hoped he wouldn’t actually need to use it, but he seemed to be a magnet for trouble. He would rather be prepared and know how to defend himself than find himself in another situation where someone bigger and stronger than him was looking to kick his ass.

Daniel sighed as he slumped forward on his desk.

When he felt a kick against his foot, Daniel lifted his head then blinked when he saw Johnny reclining back in the desk next to his. He turned his gaze back to Johnny’s usual desk then slowly returned it to Johnny, who smirked, looking entirely too relaxed.

Then Marcus walked into the classroom, with only seconds before the bell rang. Daniel’s whole body immediately tensed, dropping his gaze to his desk. His hands curled tightly into fists. Anger and shame twisted up inside him. Disgust joined the mix as he recalled the scene he witnessed yesterday. A hand circled around his wrist, and Daniel jerked his head around to find Johnny leaning over the aisle between their desks. He frowned, glaring in the direction of Marcus. But his eyes were strange, yellow seeming to ring their usual blue.

“Was it him?” Johnny closed his eyes before turning his gaze onto Daniel. They looked normal again. “Did he give you the black eye?”

“Johnny, just drop it.” Daniel tried to sound firm, tough, but he couldn’t stop the plea from entering his voice.

Johnny’s mouth pursed. “LaRusso-”

“Is there a problem here?” Mr. Harris asked, casting a shadow over them.

“Nope.” Johnny sat up straight as he pulled his hand away from Daniel’s wrist. “No problem at all.”

Mr. Harris frowned deeply. “Get back to your regular desk, Mr. Lawrence.”

Grumbling, Johnny gathered up his things and made his way back to his usual spot. He glared at the boy sitting there until he scrambled out of the seat. Johnny dropped down into it, not happy with this arrangement.

Daniel snapped his attention back to the front of class before Mr. Harris decided to give him detention for being distracted during class. His gaze flicked toward where Marcus sat. He gulped when he met the murderous glare. Shrinking down in his seat, he tried to focus on the lesson. How much worse could this situation get?

When class ended, Daniel shoved his things into his bag and scurried out of the room before either Johnny or Marcus could catch up to him. He knew he would have to deal with Johnny’s questions, since he agreed to meet up with him later to work on the history assignment. But he didn’t want to have to answer any of them right now, right here, where Marcus could overhear their conversation. What could he tell Johnny that wouldn’t get him into more trouble?

Daniel still didn’t have an answer by the time lunch rolled around. He sighed as he stood in line, looking over his choices for the day. He grabbed a couple of things here and there, but he wasn’t feeling too hungry. After he paid for his lunch, he glanced around the cafeteria. His gaze landed on Ali, but he hesitated going over to join her and her friends. Were they okay after their talk yesterday?

Steeling himself, Daniel walked over to the table and sat down in one of the open seats. He picked up his carton of milk, waiting for any of them to say something. Ali’s friend snorted and turned her attention to one of the other girls at the table, obviously wanting to ignore his presence. Like always.

Ali, however, gasped loudly when she turned to look at him. “What happened?” She grabbed his chin, turning his head to face her. Her mouth pulled down in a little frown as concern clouded her eyes. “It wasn’t-”

“Don’t even say Johnny,” Daniel cut her off firmly. Ali dropped her gaze guiltily. “I know he gave me a black eye before, but this had nothing to do with Johnny.”

“I’m sorry.” Ali sighed, reaching up to brush back some of her blonde hair. “I talked with him yesterday, and we’re trying to be friends. I shouldn’t have jumped to that conclusion.” She was still frowning when she lifted her gaze again. “But are you going to explain what happened?”

Daniel stared at the milk carton, turning it around in his hands. “I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Can we leave it at that?”

“You sure attract the guys who like getting into fights,” Ali’s friends said dryly, flicking her gaze over Daniel. She sneered before going back to her lunch.

Daniel glowered back. “I wasn’t looking to get into a fight. And if I had known what was going to happen, I would have kept walking.”

“Daniel,” Ali placed a hand on his arm, “who did this to you?”

Shaking his head, Daniel twisted the stem off his apple. “No one. It’s not important. It’s not going to happen again.” He hoped. And if it did, he hoped it was after he learned some karate from Mr. Miyagi.

“If someone is beating you up, that’s actually kind of pretty important.” Ali’s severe expression said she wasn’t about to let the topic drop.

Daniel sighed then took a large bite out of the apple, using it was an excuse not to respond. He wasn’t some little weakling that needed everyone else to protect him. Maybe he wasn’t a skilled fighter like Johnny, but Daniel was no stranger to taking a beating. It hurt and it sucked, but he was the kind of guy who bounced back to his feet. Most times. It was a little harder to do that after having his airway crushed.

And honestly, Daniel felt like Marcus would actually kill him. When it came to Johnny, it felt like any other fight he had in the past. He bit his lip, thinking about fighting Johnny again, after he learned some karate. Maybe one day, they could face off against each other on even ground. He felt a little excited at the idea. Did that make him weird? He never really thought about having a rematch against anyone he fought before. Yeah, maybe he was a little weird after all. But there was just something about Johnny that kept drawing his attention.

“Daniel, I just don’t want to see you getting hurt.”

He looked over to her as he swallowed. “I promise it’s fine. It’s not like I’ve never had a black eye before.” He grinned then took another bite out of his apple.

Ali sighed, but she was clearly unhappy with the lack of answer. “If you come to school with another bruise, I will make you tell me what happened,” she threatened, pointing a finger in his face.

Daniel held up his hands, the apple still in one hand. “Like I said, it’s not going to happen again.” Placing the apple on his tray, he picked up his milk to take a gulp. “So, how’s the cheerleading? Are you still practicing with the soccer ball?”

Ali rolled her eyes, but she caved to the change in topics. Since he didn’t make it onto the soccer team, Daniel hadn’t gone back out to the field to watch practices. It sucked. He missed soccer. He had lots of friends on the team back at his old high school. They had a good chance of making it to the playoffs this year. It killed him a bit to know he wasn’t going to be there to play with them.

Daniel ate his lunch while Ali talked, though he wasn’t fully listening. His gaze drifted around the cafeteria until he landed on the Cobras’ table. They were all horsing around and joking, and it looked like a lot more fun than sitting around listening to whatever Ali was talking about right now. Bobby caught him watching them and smiled brightly. Daniel offered a small smile back. Right when Johnny turned his head. And their eyes met. Johnny’s mouth curved in that familiar half smirk, the same one from when their eyes met at the Cobra Kai dojo. Daniel swallowed, feeling a flutter inside him as he dropped his gaze to his lunch.

Bobby sat next to him in math again. Thankfully, he didn’t ask about the black eye. Daniel almost wanted to ask him why he wasn’t demanding to know who gave it to him, like everyone else. Everyone else being only Johnny and Ali. No one else really cared enough about him. But he figured if he asked, then Bobby would start pestering him about it.

Daniel tapped his pencil on his notebook, glancing out the corner of his eye to Bobby. “Uh, so, I found a karate teacher,” he said, quiet enough not to draw their teacher’s attention.

Bobby turned to him, eyebrows shooting up toward his hairline. “Really? That’s awesome!” He grinned. “How long before you’re showing us some of your cool moves?”

Daniel ducked his head, feeling a flush of heat on his cheeks. “Probably not for a long time. I’ll mostly just be training on the weekends.”

Bobby nodded. “Well, it’s important to focus on your schoolwork. And the offer still stands if you want to spar sometime.”

Daniel chuckled as he nodded. “I’ll keep that in mind. Though I’m sure with all your training, I won’t stand a chance against you.”

“That’s not necessarily true.” Bobby frowned at him. “If you fight smart, you can take down an opponent with more training than you.” He reached across the aisle and slapped a hand against Daniel’s back. “We all saw that fire in you at the beach. You just need to learn some actual karate and to anticipate your opponent’s moves, and I bet you’ll be fighting just as good as the rest of us.”

“You think?” Daniel sat up a bit straighter, smiling. Bobby nodded before they both turned to focus back on class. Daniel couldn’t help smiling to himself as he wrote down equations and notes on how to solve them. At the beginning of the year, he never would have imagined befriending any of the Cobras. He thought they were just assholes who liked picking on people who were smaller and less popular than they were. But now that he was talking with them, his opinion changed. It felt good having more than just Ali to talk to.

After school, Daniel loitered around by his locker until he spotted Johnny walking down the hall. He was talking with his Cobra friends, but when he saw Daniel waiting, he broke away from them with a wave. The others laughed and jostled each other as they kept walking. Daniel chewed on his lip as Johnny approached him.

“Ready to go?” Johnny asked.

Daniel bobbed his head. “Where are we going to work on this? The library?”

“I picked up some books I thought might help us earlier.” Johnny shrugged. “So, I thought we could do this at your place.”

“Oh.” Daniel felt a cold weight drop in his stomach. “Uh, maybe your place would be better?” He winced. He hadn’t meant for it to sound like a question.

Johnny frowned, his brow pinching. “Yeah, I don’t think that will work. Your place would really be better.”

“Do I get an explanation for why?”

Johnny considered, his gaze almost boring right through Daniel. “When we get there. I can put your bike in the back of my car.” He nodded down the hall and started walking.

Daniel hesitated, his shoulders drooping. So far, only Freddie knew where he lived. He was sure everyone could already guess the kind of place he lived in, but at least he could pretend they didn’t if they never actually saw it.

When they got outside, Daniel walked over to the bike rack to unlock the lock. Johnny waited for him then led the way over to his car. They got his bike into the back of Johnny’s Avanti then they climbed in. Daniel ran his hand over the leather seat until he heard a laugh next to him. He jerked his hands into his lap, his face burning.

“What?” he snapped but didn’t look toward Johnny.

“You like cars?”

Daniel rolled his eyes. “Of course.” Then he frowned. “I’d never be able to afford a car like this.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Johnny grumbled, finally starting the car to pull away from the school. “Daddy’s money can buy you anything,” he said, mimicking someone with a nasally high voice.

Daniel wondered if he was trying to imitate one of Ali’s friends. “That’s not what I was trying to say.”

Johnny glanced over to him as he drove. Then he sighed. “Sorry. I’ve just heard people say that kind of thing a lot.”

“That must get annoying.”

Johnny shrugged. “So, where are we heading?”

Daniel still wasn’t happy about it, but he directed Johnny to the South Seas apartment complex. As they got closer, he felt his nerves kick in more. He kept flicking his gaze to Johnny and fidgeting with his hands. He bit at his lip to keep from rambling like an idiot. His stomach felt like it was trying to revolt.

Then they were parked out front. Daniel bit at his thumbnail, waiting for Johnny to make some kind of comment about where he lived. Johnny got out of the car and went to unload the bike from the back. Daniel took a shaky breath before he climbed out and took his bike from him.

“Um, I’m on the second floor,” Daniel said in a small voice before leading the way to the gate. Johnny got to it first and held the gate open for him. Daniel blinked. “Thanks.”

It was a silent walk from the gate to the stairs. The pool remained empty, like when they first arrived. What little water was in it was green. Daniel struggled with the bike up the stairs until Johnny grabbed the back end of it, lifting it up to help him carry it. That got another mumbled, “Thanks,” as Daniel kept his head down, cheeks pink. He unlocked the door to his apartment after leaving the bike leaning against the wall outside. After he stepped inside, he turned around to notice Johnny still standing outside.

“Planning on standing out there all day?” Daniel arched his eyebrow with an amused twitch of his mouth. “Get in here already, man.” He gestured with his hand for Johnny to follow then walked over to the sofa in the front room.

Johnny shut the door behind him then joined Daniel on the sofa. He pulled out some books from his bag, a few were ones Daniel already glanced at the other day during lunch. Daniel watched him a moment then frowned, shifting forward on the sofa.

“Uh, sorry this place is kind of-” Daniel shrugged, not looking to meet Johnny’s gaze as he pulled out his things to work on the history assignment. “So, why exactly did you not want to do this at your place? Too embarrassed to have me seen around your house?” His stomach lurched like he was going to be sick.

Johnny snorted. “There’s nothing wrong with your place. Except that you’re apparently a slob.” He opened one of the books, searching for the section with the topic they needed to review. Daniel flushed and kept his head down. “I didn’t want to go to my place because my step dad should be home right now. He’s a fucking asshole, and I figured you shouldn’t have to deal with his dickishness.”

“Step dad?” Daniel repeated, lifting his head to blink owlishly.

Johnny rolled his shoulder. “Never knew my dad. Mom married rich. Better life and all that bullshit. The money might be nice, but the asshole it’s attached to doesn’t feel worth it.”

Daniel grimaced, lowering his gaze. “I - Sorry. I just thought you were a dick because you were rich and used to getting whatever you wanted. I didn’t realize you had to deal with that crap.”

“Because I usually don’t tell anyone about it. Except Bobby, but that’s because he’s perceptive as hell. I’m supposed to be acting like the perfect Encino brat so I don’t embarrass the fucker.”

Daniel sat there, fidgeting with his hands. Part of him wanted to reach out, take Johnny’s hand, and squeeze it, to give him some comfort after revealing something so personal. But would Johnny get mad at him for something like that? He decided it was better to play it safe. He folded his arms over his legs.

Then Johnny settled back against the sofa, throwing his arm over the back of it, almost leaning in closer to Daniel. “So, are you going to tell me about the black eye now?”

Daniel turned his head. He almost jerked back when he realized how close Johnny was to him. Swallowing, he tried to ignore that nervous flutter inside him. “Promise you won’t get all like murder angry?”

Johnny frowned. “When you say that, it makes me feel like I need to get all murder angry.”

Daniel sighed. “I’m serious, Johnny. I don’t need you going on the attack and making the situation worse. I know you can kick some serious butt. But I also don’t want to be treated like some weakling who always needs someone to protect me. That’s the whole reason I’m gonna learn karate.”

Johnny took a deep breath, seemed to struggle with himself, then sighed. “All right. I get it. I’m telling you now, though, that I’m going to be pissed at this person. But I won’t touch whoever it is.”

Daniel nodded. “And this has to stay between us. You can’t breathe a word of it. Not even to your Cobra buddies.”

“Okay. Okay!” Johnny held up his hand. “Just us. I got it.”

“Okay.” Daniel raked his hand through his hair. “So, I spotted Marcus after school, and I was going to try just one last time to get him to help with the assignment.”

“Well, that was dumb.” Johnny ignored the glare Daniel shot at him. “I was planning to ask you about doing this,” he waved a hand at the books in front of them, “yesterday, but you never showed up at your locker.”

“Oh.” Daniel flushed, and Johnny’s stare felt strangely intense. “Well, anyway, I caught up with him, and, uh, he wasn’t alone.” His gaze darted to Johnny, who raised an eyebrow. “He was with a teacher. Like _with_ her. Like they were about to start making out right there in the classroom.” His face felt hot just remembering the compromising situation he walked in on. “So, Marcus threatened me to keep me quiet about it.”

Johnny frowned deeply, anger burning in his eyes. It was similar to what happened during history class. Daniel thought he noticed yellow coloring the outer ring of his irises before Johnny blinked and it was gone. “That son of a bitch,” he muttered darkly.

“You promised,” Daniel reminded, worrying as he shrank away.

“I know,” Johnny growled, but he sounded ready to say fuck it and race out of the apartment to go hunt Marcus down and tear him apart.

Daniel blinked, taking it all in. He could imagine this reaction from Johnny if it were Ali in his place. But Johnny responding this way for him? It was still a bizarre thing to think that Johnny didn’t completely hate him. How was he even supposed to feel about this? Hesitantly, Daniel reached over to lightly circle his hand around Johnny’s wrist.

Johnny stilled. A beat passed. Then he huffed, like he was trying to push out all of his anger in that one breath. “If he didn’t want to be caught, maybe he shouldn’t be fucking around at school.”

“Well, I’m just going to keep quiet and avoid him. Hopefully, it’ll just be forgotten after a while.” Daniel knew it wouldn’t. A threat like that didn’t just go away after a week or two. He let his hand fall away from Johnny’s wrist. “Anyway, we should focus on the assignment. I’m not going to fail this because my partner is an asshole.”

After a few minutes, Johnny cracked his usual half smirk. “I guess we think alike there.” He picked up one of the books. “Where do we start?”

Daniel smiled, grabbing a book for himself, and they got to work on their assignment.


	7. Chapter 7

Johnny was still thinking back to the time spent in LaRusso’s apartment working on their history assignment, and some other homework. Studying wasn’t his favorite activity, but suffering through it was worth it when he got to learn more about LaRusso. Like how they came out here because his mother had gotten a job opportunity at some up and coming tech company only to have it fall through almost immediately after their arrival. Johnny grimaced, thinking about how difficult that had to be. He remembered what it was like living in shitty apartments, surviving paycheck to paycheck while his mother worked crappy waitress jobs. At least, Mrs. LaRusso got a job as a manager at some restaurant, so they weren’t doing too bad.

Johnny didn’t miss how LaRusso never talked about his father. He chewed on that for a while, but he didn’t know how, or if, he should approach the subject. From his own experience, he knew it could be a touchy subject, and he didn’t want LaRusso to put up walls if he tried to broach the subject carelessly. Maybe it was best to simply wait and let LaRusso bring it up whenever he decided he was ready.

The weeks rolled by, and Johnny struggled against the constant desire to punch Nolan in the face whenever he spotted him at school, especially when he noticed Nolan watching LaRusso, who was clearly not as oblivious to the attention as he pretended to be. Johnny could hear the hiccups in his heartbeat and the smell the acidic notes of fear coming from him. He almost spent an entire history class glaring murderously at the back of his head before catching himself. For LaRusso’s sake, Johnny couldn’t give away that he knew anything about what happened. Even if every instinct in him was fighting to pay back the one who hurt his intended claim. 

Over the weekends, Johnny was disappointed when LaRusso told him he couldn’t hang out with him. His immediate thought was LaRusso already planned to do something with Ali. Until LaRusso reminded him about how he was starting his karate training. It made Johnny excited for when LaRusso would be strong enough to spar off against, wanting to test his abilities once he actually knew how to fight.

Dutch threw a punch that narrowly clipped his chin. Johnny jerked back then countered with a roundhouse kick that landed a hit to the ribs. Dutch grunted at the blow.

“Is there a problem, Mr. Lawrence?” Kreese barked out, making him flinch at the sharp tone.

“No, Sensei!” Johnny responded, an automatic reflex he didn’t have to even think about.

Kreese stepped into the center of the mat, placing himself in front of Johnny. Over his sensei’s shoulder, Johnny could see even Dutch had a hint of worry in his eyes. Getting called out by Kreese was never a good thing. An air of tension filled the dojo. Johnny focused his attention on Kreese, meeting the older hybrid’s cold eyes.

“You seem distracted today.” Kreese narrowed his eyes, seeking a weakness he could exploit, some excuse to land Johnny on his ass to teach all his students the folly of letting their enemy see their weakness.

Johnny wanted to sneer, to growl, to rage about how ridiculous Kreese sounded. But he clamped down on his opinions and stared evenly back. “No, Sensei. I’m completely focused.”

Kreese pressed his mouth thin, still glaring at him. His eyes flash yellow in a flare of anger. Then he whirled around on Dutch, who stiffened, immediately alert and waiting for Kreese to scream at him. “Dutch, perhaps you would like to explain why Mr. Lawrence is distracted.” Everyone could feel Kreese kicking up his intimidation, drawing himself up to his full height to loom over his student.

Dutch frowned, shaking his head. “Not a clue, sir.”

Johnny bit the corner of his mouth to keep himself from smirking. It was an unspoken rule among them, though this was the first time it was coming into effect. If any of them had their eye on someone they wanted to claim as a mate, no one breathed a word about it to Kreese. They were all aware of what Kreese thought about it. Kreese thought any sign of humanity in them needed to be stomped out. Humanity made hybrids weak. Kreese didn’t allow for weakness in his dojo. Even Dutch thought that mentality was too extreme.

When Kreese swept his gaze around at his other students, they all stared back, not one of them flinching. They weren’t going to give him the answer he was seeking, and Kreese knew it. He landed a glare back on Johnny and held up a finger.

“Get your head on straight, son. We’ve got two months until the tournament. I need you to stay focused. You’re going to win that tournament.”

“Yes, Sensei!”

Kreese scowled. He dismissed them then headed back to his office.

Johnny followed his friends into the back to change into their regular clothes. When they were ready, he shrugged into his red Cobra Kai jacket and slung his bag over his shoulder. They left the dojo, and none of them spoke until they climbed into Johnny’s car and drove a decent distance away from the dojo.

“We all know how much you have Daniel on the brain,” Bobby said, “but you really need to focus while we’re training.”

“I know.” Johnny huffed, trying but failing not to sound frustrated. “It was just one moment. Okay?”

“Is this still about the black eye he had?” Jimmy leaned forward, resting his elbows on the front seats. “Did he ever tell you what happened?”

“Yes.”

“What?” Tommy shouted. “And you didn’t tell us? And you didn’t kick the guy’s ass for touching LaRusso?”

Johnny sighed. “Look. I promised I wouldn’t say anything to anyone if he told me about what happened. And I also promised not to touch the dude that punched him. As much as I would love to fuck the guy up.”

“Seriously?” Dutch grumbled. “You could just tell us, and we could kick the jerk’s ass.”

Johnny rolled his eyes. “And that would just prove that I blabbed about it to you. If I want to earn LaRusso’s trust and get him to like me, I can’t go around breaking the promises I made to him.”

“I think that’s good.” Bobby nodded, sitting upfront with Johnny. Then he grinned. “You’re trying really hard to make things work with Daniel.” He held up his hands when Johnny glared at him. “That wasn’t an insult, man. We get that you really like him.”

“Can we talk about something else now?” Johnny grumbled, though he did appreciate that his friends were invested in helping him to win LaRusso over.

“Whatever you want, man.” Jimmy laughed, slapping his shoulder a few times. “I got all the stuff we need for our costumes. We can go over to my place and get ready.”

“Yeah, okay.” Johnny turned down the street, heading toward Jimmy’s house. He wasn’t really looking forward to the Halloween dance, even though he got roped into helping out with the decorations. Almost everyone did. Something about school spirit and teamwork, or some shit the principal rambled on about during the assembly about getting the gym ready for the dance.

When they reached Jimmy’s house, they all climbed out of the car and headed inside. Jimmy’s mother greeted them. She was always nice, offering to get them snacks if they were hungry, which of course, they were. They were always hungry after Kreese pushed them hard during training. They headed up to Jimmy’s room. They ate the snacks Jimmy’s mother brought up for them while they changed into their costumes. Then they did each other’s makeup, smearing on the white and black to look like a skeleton’s skull.

It was still a bit early by the time they were ready, so they hung out in Jimmy’s room, messing around, playing games and shit, to pass the time. It was a good time, but Johnny’s mind kept worrying about Kreese. He had to stay vigilant in Kreese’s presence. He couldn’t afford another moment of distraction. Kreese would be on his ass the next time it happened.

The sky darkened outside, and they decided it was finally time to head off to the dance. They piled into Johnny’s car, and he drove them to school. The dance had already started by the time he parked and they walked into the gym. Music played loudly, a DJ set up at one end of the gym. Other students danced, but a lot were just kind of standing around, talking. Johnny nodded to his friends as they split off. Jimmy and Bobby had girlfriends to meet up with. Dutch sneaked over to the punch to add a little something to it while the teachers weren’t looking. Tommy spotted someone from class and went to ask them something about their homework. Johnny rolled his eyes at that.

“Nice costume,” Ali said, popping up at his side. Her hair was pulled up with sprigs of flowers woven into it. Her dress was long and white.

“You look lovely.” Johnny couldn’t deny that she was beautiful, even if he no longer felt any attraction to her. She blushed, dropping her gaze as she twirled a daisy in her hand. “You’re not hanging out with your friends?”

Ali rolled her eyes at him. “Aren’t we friends now?” Her smile was teasing.

“Ah, right. I’d forgotten,” Johnny joked.

“How’s the training for that tournament going? You’re still aiming for your third title, right?”

“Of course! And I’m totally going to get it.” Johnny grinned winningly. “But I thought you didn’t like how everything’s a fight with me.” He cocked an eyebrow upward.

“I meant in normal life. I know how much this tournament means to you. That’s why I’m still planning to go and support you.”

Johnny smiled, a real one. “Thanks.”

Ali returned the smile before her gaze wandered around the gym. “Oh!” Her face brightened. “There’s Daniel!”

Johnny immediately snapped his gaze around to where Ali pointed, and yup, there he was. LaRusso weaved his way through the crowd in a ridiculous getup with the shower curtain open enough for him to walk around without bumping into everyone. Johnny couldn’t stop his laugh. “What is he wearing?”

Ali nudged him with her elbow. “Be nice. It’s creative. I’m going to go say hi.” She waved before making her way over to where LaRusso was, probably looking for her.

Johnny remained where he was, standing on the edge of the crowd. He looked for his friends, all busy with one thing or another. But eventually, his gaze strayed back to Ali and LaRusso. They talked and laughed, LaRusso smiling and gesturing widely his hands. Jealousy twisted inside him. Johnny left the gym and headed for the bathroom. He walked to the last stall and locked the door behind him. Sitting down on the toilet, he pulled out his Walkman, shoving the headphones onto his head before hitting the play button. Music better than the crap being played at the dance filled his ears, and he relaxed back as he pulled out what he needed to roll a joint. He knew there was a chance of being caught. Teachers actually came into the bathrooms to check every now and then during a dance. But he didn’t care.

Johnny had just finished getting the joint ready when Bobby knocked on the door. He sighed, yanking off his headphones as he stood up to peer over the door.

“Planning on spending the whole night in there, Johnny?” Bobby wore an amused smile as he lifted an eyebrow.

“Shut it, Bobby.” Johnny scowled at him. “I’ll be out a minute.” He lowered himself back onto the toilet, catching the joint between his lips.

“Sure, okay, Johnny.” Bobby’s footsteps moved away from the stall. “Oh, hey, Daniel.” His voice was a little louder than normal, and Johnny was almost tempted to throw a wad of wet toilet paper at him.

“Hey, Bobby,” LaRusso returned even as Bobby seemed to keep walking.

Johnny waited, listening as the bathroom door opened and closed again. Water ran at one of the sinks. Johnny got up, unlocking the door and pulling it open. When he peeked out, he spotted LaRusso over by the sinks, still in his ridiculous shower costume. The curtain was pulled all the way open, and Johnny could see his reflection in the mirror over the sink. LaRusso bent over the sink, scooping up the water then rinsing something out of his hair. Curiously, Johnny slipped out of the stall and made his way over to the sinks. He leaned back against the wall, arms crossed and joint tucked behind his ear.

“What happened to you?”

LaRusso’s head jerked up, his big brown eyes blinking. “Johnny?” After a moment, he remembered the question. “Oh. Uh.” A blush colored his cheeks. “Some idiot in a chicken costume was throwing eggs at people. I got one to the head.”

Johnny tried not to, he really did, but the laugh bubbled out of him before he could stop it. LaRusso’s face darkened as he dropped his gaze. “Come on. That’s a little funny. And you weren’t the only one getting egged.”

Those dark eyes flicked toward him. Then LaRusso let out a small chuckle. “Yeah, okay. It’s kind of funny.” His mouth curled upward as he finished rinsing his hair clean.

“Hey,” Johnny pushed away from the wall, “you wanna go hang out somewhere else?”

LaRusso stood up straight, raking his damp hair back. He blinked, and Johnny took the joint from behind his ear, holding it out between them. LaRusso stared at it, his mouth setting in that determined way he had when he was about to throw down for a challenge. His gaze lifted to Johnny, a fire shining in them. “Okay.”

Johnny smirked, tucking the joint under the sleeve of his costume as he led the way out of the bathroom. He glanced around the hall, but it was empty. They left through one of the exits, and LaRusso worked on the straps holding his costume in place until he was able to shed the shower, curtain and all. He dumped the costume in the backseat of the car before hopping into the front seat. Johnny climbed into the driver’s seat, and they were off, driving into the night. His friends could find their own rides home.

Johnny drove around until they reached LaRusso’s apartment complex. LaRusso shot him a worried look when Johnny parked around back. With a grin, Johnny hopped out and walked around to the fence. Though there was a chain on the gate to keep it shut, the padlock wasn’t properly locked. A quick jerk yanked it free. He pulled the chain free from the gate as LaRusso followed behind him. They slipped through the gate. It was dark in the field behind the complex, the lights only reaching so far. Johnny sat down in the grass and untucked the joint from his sleeve. LaRusso joined him, sitting close, as he leaned back on his elbows.

“You ever smoke before?” Johnny raised a curious eyebrow as he placed the joint between his lips. He dug out his lighter then held it up, cupping a hand around it as he lit the joint.

LaRusso snorted. “You think California has a monopoly on drugs?”

Johnny took a long pull off the joint, hollowing his cheeks. He held it in as he passed the joint over to LaRusso. He held onto the smoke for as long as he could then breathed it out slowly. Laying back, he enjoyed that pleasant feeling that came after taking a hit. His gaze drifted away from the stars overhead to LaRusso as he smoked. Johnny lifted his eyebrows, impressed. He honestly believed LaRusso would be sputtering and coughing the second he tried to take a draw from it. Almost like he sensed eyes on him, LaRusso turned his head. When their eyes met, LaRusso grinned then slowly breathed out the smoke.

“See?” LaRusso held out the joint for Johnny to take back.

“Okay, LaRusso. You proved me wrong.” Johnny reached out to take the joint, letting their fingers brush together. He listened to the way LaRusso’s breath hitched at the light touch. Smiling, he took another pull from the joint.

“You didn’t do anything to Marcus yet.”

Johnny shrugged. “I promised, didn’t I? Bet he’s going to be pissed when he learns you didn’t put his name down on that assignment.”

“He didn’t do shit to write it.” LaRusso took the joint back.

They passed it back and forth for a while until it finally ran out. Then they both lied next to each other, staring up at the night sky. Johnny was overly aware that if he scooted over just a little, their shoulders would be pressed against each other. His gaze strayed every few minutes, glancing over to LaRusso. He watched as LaRusso’s tongue sneaked out, licking his lips, leaving them wet and shiny. And oh, so kissable.

He needed a distraction before he caved to his desire to taste those lips.

“How is the training going?” Johnny asked.

“Hm?” LaRusso broke out of whatever thoughts had him smiling lazily at the darkness stretching above them. He turned his head, the smile still there, and Johnny had to resist the urge to lean in. LaRusso’s eyes were glassy. Maybe he would just think it was the high if Johnny kissed him. But Johnny wanted LaRusso to want to kiss him back. “Oh!” LaRusso giggled, a little giddy. “Not what I expected. It felt like he was just using me for yard work at first.”

Johnny’s brow knitted, wondering if that was the drugs messing with him. “What? Yard work? Are you sure he’s teaching you karate? Maybe this guy tricked you.”

“No, no!” LaRusso waved his hands around in front of him. “It’s cool. Like, you think you’re not learning anything, but then you realize you are. And it’s just like-” he held his hands, fingers pressed to his thumbs, next to his temples. Then he splayed his fingers out, making an explosion sound. “-boom! You get it. And then you’re blocking everything he’s throwing at you, and it feels fucking amazing.” He started making circular motions with his hands, giggling at something only he understood.

“Well, if you ever want to test out your skills,” Johnny offered, “we could spar sometime.”

LaRusso turned his smile back on him. “Yeah?” Then he rolled onto his side, almost leaning over Johnny as he poked his finger into Johnny’s cheek. “I’ll kick your butt. Just you wait!” He snickered then lied down again, practically resting his head on Johnny’s shoulder.

Johnny swallowed thickly, keeping very still as LaRusso’s soft snores filled the quiet field.

**Author's Note:**

> LivingDeaDGirl244 asked if I would write a Karate Kid (84) AU fic where Johnny and his friends are vampires, Johnny wants to claim Daniel as his mate, and his friends try to help him.
> 
> After some debating, I decided to make Johnny and the boys vampire/human hybrids because I didn't like the idea of them being turned at 17 and then being forever 17. Just imagining them being like 100 year old vampires but still being treated like kids because they look 17 didn't really sit well in my head. I hope you don't mind me putting that spin on them being vampires!
> 
> I wanted to start posting this a bit earlier, but I got stuck on a title. For this and the like 3 other stories I've been working on. It was 2 until another idea wouldn't leave me alone.


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